State Civil Rights Institute

Currently the state of Louisiana is conducting a feasibility study for the construction of a new Civil Rights Institute in New Orleans. It is the hope of the Ruby Bridges Foundation that the proposed site for the institute will be at or near the historic William Frantz building. More than a museum, the institution will host an archive and a research center designed to be accessible for students. The institute will also be a center for educational programming on the Civil Rights Movement including the integration of schools in New Orleans.

St. Mary of the Angels School, unoccupied since Katrina, has been proposed as a site for the Civil Rights Institute. Once a center of the Florida neighborhood, housing the institute at St. Mary’s would be an important positive step in the renewal of the Upper Ninth Ward. The Ruby Bridges Foundation eagerly awaits the results of the state’s feasibility study, which should be announced soon.